America’s ‘oyster shuck-off’ is Oct. 19-20

Oyster shuckers from all across America will gather on Oct. 19-20 at the St. Mary’s County Fairgrounds in Leonardtown, Md., for the annual U.S. Oyster Festival.

The festival’s showcase event is the National Oyster Shucking Championship Competition, with separate divisions for male and female shuckers.

It’s a timed contest to see who can shuck a tray of 24 Chesapeake Bay oysters the fastest and do it cleanly. Competitors are also judged on “presentation,” and penalties can add valuable seconds to the “shuck time.”

The shucker – male or female – with the lowest “final time” is declared the Grand Champion and earns an automatic ticket to represent the United States at the International Oyster Opening Championship in Galway, Ireland, which is always held in late September and regarded as the Super Bowl of Oystering.

The U.S. Oyster Festival is hosted by the Rotary Club of Lexington Park, Md. (Lexington Park is the most populous community in St. Mary’s County.) It certainly qualifies as one of the nation’s “most interesting” Rotary-sponsored projects.

Back to defend his U.S. title as the Grand Champion shucker in 2025 is Honor Allen of Panama City, Fla. Allen, the shucker-in-residence at Dat Cajun Place Café in Panama City, has won the crown six times since 2016. He is the hottest shucker on the circuit.

Allen ranks among the world’s elite shuckers, having finished fourth at the most recent Galway international event. Allen would like to qualify once again try to bring the world title back to U.S. soil.

Only two Americans have won the international competition in Galway since it started in 1968.

The first was Cornelius Mackall (shown below) of Calvert County, Md., which is located between the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River. A second generation shucker, Mackall won the trophy in 1976.

William “Chopper” Young Jr. (shown below), a waterman from Wellfleet, Mass., became the world champion shucker in 2008. He said at the time that he was lucky to have won the competition.

Well, “Lady Luck” smiled on him yet again in 2015 when Young won $10 million in the Massachusetts state lottery. Young had purchased a $20 scratch-off ticket at a convenience story on a lark.

One of the local newspapers reported: “One minute he was shucking oysters for a living, the next he was sitting on top of 10 million clams.”

Young told reporters of his plans: “I’m going to get new socks, have my teeth cleaned, and I’m going to upgrade my cable from $49 a month to $79 a month and pay off some bills.”

In addition, he bought his mother a house, went on an African safari and bought a new truck and some property.

His passion still revolves around oyster farming, his boats and his clamming operation. He still has the same circle of friends, and he believes he can still out-shuck all the local talent. (Young no longer competes, though, for national or world titles. Leave that to the younger guys, he says.)

“It’s good not being up against the pressure of racing to pay bills, to make ends meet,” he says. “It’s also good just knowing you can take care of your own damn self.”

On the international level, shucking star Anti Lepik of Estonia is taking care of business. He has won six of the last 10 Galway competitions.

A former executive chef for a leading cruise ship line serving the Baltic Sea region, Lepik and his father are now operating the Austerium Oyster Bar, an upscale eatery in downtown Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city, which is located on the northern coast of the country fronting the Gulf of Finland.

“Our specialty is is finding flavors unique to the oyster world and creating special moments each and every day,” Lepik says. “An opened oyster is a carefully selected masterpiece. We have the best selection of premium oysters in Estonia and cooperate with Famille Boutrais, one of the largest oyster farms in France.”

“Oysters,” he says, “are the grapes of the sea. Like wine, they are full of flavour and taste really beautiful.”